1. Field of Art
The present invention generally relates to the field of generating maps and specifically to conflating multiple sets of data describing geographic features on the maps.
2. Background of the Invention
Digital maps, such as those provided by GOOGLE INC., are used in a wide variety of electronic devices, such as car navigation systems and mobile phones. Users rely on digital maps to provide comprehensive and accurate information about roads and other geographic features for purposes including navigation, route guidance, and education. Therefore, the map data should be as accurate and complete as possible.
There are large datasets available that describe geographic features and can be used to create digital maps. However, different datasets have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, one dataset may describe locations of geographic features with a high level of precision but contain only partial metadata describing the features. Another dataset, in contrast, may include detailed metadata describing the geographic features but lack precise location information.
It is desirable to create digital maps that incorporate the strengths of their constituent datasets. However, given the large sizes of datasets, properly conflating the data to, e.g., combine the correct metadata with the correct location information, is not an easy task.